Drinks served with sobering statics at Side event in Napa

It started with mimosas and ended with wine-tasting, but in between the California Association of Realtors delivered some sobering statistics at Side’s Market Masters wine country event last week.

“It has gotten tough for us this year,” said Oscar Wei, the CAR’s deputy chief economist, before revealing a series of slides showing that sales volume in the state had fallen by one quarter in August, year over year, and would likely continue to fall for the rest of the year due to inflation concerns and a volatile stock market.

Prices in the state were still up slightly at a median of $840,000, but Wei predicted they would drop 7 percent by the first quarter of next year. He also predicted further interest rate hikes in early 2023 as the Federal Reserve attempts to bring down inflation, an assessment that provoked audible gasps in the room. In a monthly survey, CAR found that a growing number of agents said inflation was delaying their clients’ home buying plans and canceling their plans to sell.

San Francisco prices were down nearly 12 percent year over year, the biggest drop in the Bay Area. Alameda was down more than 5 percent with more than an 8 percent decline between July and August alone.

The North Bay was in the strongest price position, with figures still higher year-over-year in Marin, Sonoma and Napa. In particular, Napa prices were up nearly 30 percent year over year and one of the few markets to still show price growth this summer, which is perhaps one reason the event took place in a ballroom at Napa’s Meritage Resort and Spa.

Wei predicted that the Bay Area would probably see a further drop in volume, but not fall much further in prices as inventory would remain depressed since homeowners who are locked into low interest rates can afford to wait out the market.

The rest of the event seemed designed to give agents skills and inspiration for making it through the down market, with business coach Kitty Cole offering advice about how long to hold eye contact and handshakes, and the kinds of questions to ask new clients to develop a rapport. Top Side agents spoke at a panel discussion that wrapped up the pre-wine portion of the event about how downturns can be an opportunity to “thrive” as part of the economic sales cycle.

The event, which had a crowd of more than 100 current and prospective Side “partners,” was clearly a sales pitch for the white-label brokerage as well. The agents at the panel discussion were encouraged to offer their tales of how they overcame their fears of leaving their big brokerages to come to Side and how the move had helped their businesses grow.

Casey McLoed, Side’s managing broker for California, said the afternoon was about education, not recruitment, but added: “If people like what they hear and they want to talk to us, that’s great.” Side is holding other Market Masters in Washington D.C. and Atlanta this fall.

Each attendee at the Napa event was given a take-home gift to “tackle your daily hustle”: biscotti and a Rocketbook smart notebook, a product that appeared on Shark Tank, in a box imprinted with a quote from one of the judges on the reality show. Inside the box was a parting sales pitch from Side, which called itself “a bit like Shark Tank for top-producing real-estate agents.”